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82 killed in Baghdad COVID-19 hospital fire: Interior ministry

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A fire sparked by an oxygen tank explosion killed at least 82 people and injured 110 at a hospital in Baghdad that had been equipped to house COVID-19 patients, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on Sunday.

“We urgently need to review safety measures at all hospitals to prevent such a painful incident from happening in future,” spokesman Khalid al-Muhanna told state television, announcing the toll.

The fire erupted on Saturday at the Ibn Khatib hospital in the Diyala Bridge area.

Ali Bayati, a member of Iraq’s semi-official High Commission for Human Rights, had said earlier a final death toll had not yet been officially announced but it could be between 30 to 45.

Patients’ relatives scrambled during the blaze to save their loved ones.

A man who had been visiting his brother described people jumping out of windows to escape.

“The fire spread, like fuel … I took my brother out to the street, next to the checkpoint. Then I came (back) and went up from there. To the last floor, that did not burn. I found a girl suffocating, about 19 years old, she was suffocating, she was about to die,” said Ahmed Zaki.

“I took her on my shoulders and I ran down. People were jumping… Doctors fell on the cars. Everyone was jumping. And I kept going up from there, got people and come down again,” Zaki said.

Patients were moved to other hospitals, medical sources said. But several families were still at the hospital hours after the fire had been extinguished, after failing to find them elsewhere.

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi ordered an investigation.

“Such an incident is evidence of negligence and therefore I directed that an investigation be launched immediately and for the hospital’s manager and the heads of security and maintenance to be detained along with all those concerned until we identify those negligent and hold them accountable,” he said in a statement.

Iraq’s healthcare system, ruined by decades of sanctions, war and neglect, has been stretched during the coronavirus crisis. The country has recorded a total of 102,5288 infections, including 15,217 deaths, the health ministry said on Saturday.

Security has improved in recent years but Iraq still suffers from political violence, including militia rocket attacks on foreign forces and a low-level Islamic State insurgency.

Accidents due to neglect and wrecked infrastructure have compounded the woes of ordinary Iraqis.

In 2019, at least 90 people died when an overloaded ferry carrying families on an outing sank in the Tigris river in the northern city of Mosul.

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Israel’s Netanyahu says Iran tried to kill one of his sons

It was not immediately clear which of his sons he was referring to. Netanyahu’s elder son, Yair, lives in Miami.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Iran had tried to kill one of his sons, but gave no details about ​when the alleged plot took place, which son was targeted or how ‌close it came to being carried out, Reuters reported.

Netanyahu’s allegation underscores the heightened tensions since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began in February, during which Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior Iranian ​leaders were killed.

Netanyahu, whose coalition is trailing in opinion polls two months ​before an October 27 general election, made the claim in a ⁠telephone interview with Israel’s Channel 14. He was responding to reports that one ​of Israel’s security agencies had refused to provide protection for a political rival ahead ​of the nationwide vote.

“As for my sons. Here, I think there is something quite unbelievable, yes. Iran targeted one of my sons. Iran tried to kill, to murder one of my sons,” ​Netanyahu told the conservative channel known for its favourable coverage of the government.

“Iran tried ​to murder one of my sons, and therefore this security protection is not a luxury,” he ‌said, ⁠without providing any further details about the alleged plot or how close it came to being carried out.

It was not immediately clear which of his sons he was referring to. Netanyahu’s elder son, Yair, lives in Miami.

Iran’s mission at the United Nations ​in New York ​did not immediately ⁠respond to a request for comment on the accusation.

Netanyahu also said he had told the Shin Bet security agency chief David ​Zini that appropriate security should be provided for any prime ministerial ​candidate.

Israeli media ⁠had reported earlier that Zini declined to provide security for Gadi Eisenkot and told the country’s election authority there was no plot to harm him, read the report.

Eisenkot’s party is projected ⁠to win ​the largest number of seats in the election, ​although Israeli governments are usually formed through coalitions among multiple parties rather than by a single party winning ​a parliamentary majority outright.

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Norway to give over $9 billion to Ukraine in 2027

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and ​leaders from across the Nordic and Baltic region ​are visiting Kyiv on Sunday in a show of ⁠support for Ukraine in the war with Russia.

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Norway plans to give another 85 billion Norwegian crowns ($9.2 billion) in financial support ​to Ukraine in the 2027 fiscal year, in ‌line with the amount given in 2026, the Nordic country’s government said in a statement on Sunday.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and ​leaders from across the Nordic and Baltic region ​are visiting Kyiv on Sunday in a show of ⁠support for Ukraine in the war with Russia.

Norway plans to give another 85 billion Norwegian crowns ($9.2 billion) in financial support ​to Ukraine in the 2027 fiscal year, in ‌line with the amount given in 2026, the Nordic country’s government said in a statement on Sunday.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and ​leaders from across the Nordic and Baltic region ​are visiting Kyiv on Sunday in a show of ⁠support for Ukraine in the war with Russia.

Russia ​and Ukraine ⁠are both ramping up drone campaigns aiming to cripple each other’s economic infrastructure, often striking targets far beyond the frontlines ⁠of ​the war started by Moscow, as ​fighting on the battlefield grinds toward the 4-1/2-year mark.

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Israel strikes southern Syria; Damascus condemns attack

Israeli troops continue to operate in southern Syria, and ⁠Israel occupies ​territory in southwest Syria it ​seized after the toppling of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

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Israel said it targeted a “terrorist” in southern Syria on Saturday in what Syria’s foreign ministry ​said was a drone strike on a ‌civilian vehicle on the outskirts of Damascus in a “blatant” violation of its territory.

The Syrian foreign ministry said the drone ​had hit a civilian car on a ​road near Beit Jinn village in the ⁠countryside west of the capital, which caused injuries ​amongst civilians.

Syrian state TV reported one person was injured.

The ​Israeli military said in a statement that it fired in southern Syria toward what it described as a terrorist, ​whose activity posed an immediate threat to its ​soldiers. It did not say how it fired.

Tensions between Israel ‌and ⁠Syria flared up this week after Israel bombed an airbase in the northwest on Tuesday, an escalation U.S. special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, called “unnecessary.”

Syria’s foreign ​ministry said ​the strike ⁠was part of a pattern of repeated Israeli attacks on Syrian territory, and ​was a “blatant violation” of its sovereignty. ​It ⁠held Israel accountable for the consequences of such actions.

Israeli troops continue to operate in southern Syria, and ⁠Israel occupies ​territory in southwest Syria it ​seized after the toppling of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

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